myCSUSM
Success Coaching Program
A little More About Success Coaching
Success coaching is a critical, individualized practice designed to motivate students,
teach them how to plan, reflect, make decisions, and learn effective strategies for
being successful. Because success coaching is a proactive outreach process to students,
we do not wait for the students to develop a problem. We begin building a relationship
with them right away. Success Coaches will manage a caseload of students who are being
engaged through email, text, video, or CougarBot chat.
Success Coaching
- Involves life skills development & bi-weekly conversations with students from the point of admission through the first year.
- Builds relationships with students and integrates them into the university support system.
- Identifies students for coaching based on preparation.
- Complements academic advising and current retention initiatives.
- Offers support via prescribed assignments based on developmental models.
Why Implement a Success Coaching Program?
- Assist undeserved students to increase persistence rates to their sophomore year.
- Provide resources that encourage personal and academic success to first-generation college students.
- Reduce educational inequities and offer an equity-minded student support services.
- Prepare students for independent decision making and learning.
- Best practices of coaching have demonstrated improvements in those students who received success coaching.
Types of Services provided
- College preparation & readiness: Intentional discussions are centered around college expectations, coaching them in skill development & having the right attitude to be a successful college student.
- Goal setting & decision making support: Success Coaches keep students accountable for their academic plans.
- Organizational skills development: Success Coaches offer help & referrals for improving academic study skills (time management, note-taking, test-taking, etc.).
- Financial literacy: Ensuring that financial aid discussions, workshops on management of money/living expenses/budgeting are brought to the attention of our first year student population.
- Well-being: academic, holistic wellness & crisis management referrals, Success Coaches refer students to other resource support as needed.
- Career readiness & leadership education: Ensuring that discussions of leadership development, support & referrals to begin the process of major and career exploration start at the beginning of their academic journey in higher education.
- Community engagement & sense of belonging to campus: Success Coaches assist students with connecting to student life & civic engagement/internships/service learning discussions.
- Graduation guidance: We assist students with using the catalog, general education worksheet, major worksheets & other resources.
Benefits of the Success Coaching Program
- Self-awareness, self-discoveries and a sense of belong in a safe and trustworthy environment.
- Students are guided as they gain increased awareness of their interests and abilities.
- Students are guided as they learn how to make decisions that promote goal achievement and success.
- Students are guided as they learn why certain decisions hindered their goal achievement and success.
- Students are exposed top new possibilities and options that can result in goal achievement and success.
Success Coaching on a large scale does require a paradigm shift in thinking and understanding. Our success coaches will use a case management approach as they work to support their clients. Each success coach will be assigned a caseload of full time first-year students to monitor and support for the entirety of their first academic year.